Barbara J. Hamby

Spam Scams

Yesterday morning I was notified that I won a BMW and $45,000 cash in a lottery in Spain, and I’ve been selected by Hundai Corporation to receive big bucks for my personal development. Wow, am I lucky. I may wear out the delete button on my computer if this keeps up. Ever astute AOL did pop those emails into the SPAM pile, but I still had to delete them.

But I think about my mother who was deteriorating so much that I had to explain to her that she had not won Publisher’s Clearing House, because their mailing confused her. How many seniors out there fall for these phony notices? I’m infuriated at the thought.

Technology has opened so many doors to crooks with a little imagination and even copycats without. Old age is tough enough—I’m old enough to know, with health problems, financial problems for some, family problems for others; no one needs to be hassled by identity theft or other scams.

But there are always those who will work harder for an “easy buck” than an honest living.

Someone I know just spent the weekend receiving communications from such a person or persons. Those communications are now in the hands of police and I hope no further problems will arise. I don’t feel comfortable providing details right now, maybe later.